this kind
of composition awakened no great interest in him; but in _El Medico de sa
honra_ and _El Mayor monstruo los celos_ the theme of jealousy is handled
with sombre power, while _El Alcalde de Zalamea_ is one of the greatest
tragedies in Spanish literature. Calderon is seen to much less advantage in
the spectacular plays--_dramas de tramoya_--which he wrote at the command
of Philip IV.; the dramatist is subordinated to the stage-carpenter, but
the graceful fancy of the poet preserves even such a mediocre piece as _Los
Tres Mayores prodigies_ (which won him his knighthood) from complete
oblivion. A greater opportunity is afforded in the more animated _comedias
palaciegas_, or melodramatic pieces destined to be played before courtly
audiences in the royal palace: _La Banda y la flor_ and _El Galan fantasma_
are charming illustrations of Calderon's genial conception and refined
artistry. His historical plays (_La Gran Cenobia, Las armas de la
hermosura_, &c.) are the weakest of all his formal dramatic productions;
_El Golfo de la sirenas_ and _La Purpura de la rosa_ are typical
_zarzuelas_, to be judged by the standard of operatic libretti, and the
_entremeses_ are lacking in the lively humour which should characterize
these dramatic interludes. On the other hand, Calderon's faculty of
ingenious stagecraft is seen at its best in his "cloak-and-sword" plays
(_comedias de capa y espada_) which are invaluable pictures of contemporary
society. They are conventional, no doubt, in the sense that all
representations of a specially artificial society must be conventional; but
they are true to life, and are still as interesting as when they first
appeared. In this kind _No siempre lo peor es cierto, La Dama duende, Una
casa con dos puertas mala es de guardar_ and _Guardate del agua mansa_ are
almost unsurpassed. But it is as a writer of _autos sacramentales_ that
Calderon defies rivalry: his intense devotion, his subtle intelligence, his
sublime lyrism all combine to produce such marvels of allegorical poetry as
_La Cena del rey Baltasar, La Vina del Senor_ and _La Serpiente de metal_.
The _autos_ lingered on in Spain till 1765, but they may be said to have
died with Calderon, for his successors merely imitated him with a tedious
fidelity. Almost alone among Spanish poets, Calderon had the good fortune
to be printed in a fairly correct and readable edition (1682-1691), thanks
to the enlightened zeal of his admirer, Juan de Vera T